The Night We Met
by tv-addict007
Summary: "It would be fun, she had said. It would do her good, she had said. It was time to let Rebel Becks out again, she had said. But right now all she did was cursing her best friend for dragging her to this party." AU Caskett meeting. One Shot.


**Aaannnd another Caskett AU meeting :)**

**It's definitely longer than my other One Shot, I just couldn't stop writing.**

**Have fun.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, but the mistakes are mine :) **

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**The Night We Met**

It would be fun, she had said. It would do her good, she had said. It was time to let Rebel Becks out again, she had said. And she - Kate Beckett - had believed her, thinking that maybe - _just maybe _\- her best friend Madison Queller was right. But right now all she did was cursing her best friend for dragging her to this party.

It had started out alright. The location was great, the music was great, and they somehow managed to get alcohol. All basics for a perfect night out with her best friend were covered. They planned to have fun together for one last time, before Kate would leave for Stanford. But after barely ten minutes in, she had been ditched by Maddie.

Madison just couldn't resist a cute, good-looking guy.

It was nothing new to Kate. She had been on many parties with Maddie in the past, to some officially and to some she had to sneak out of her room, hoping her parents wouldn't notice. But there had at least been some other people she had known from school then. Now, she knew no one. Kate guessed that most of the attendees were already in College, making her and Maddie probably one of the youngest people here.

Good thing that no one asked for any identification on parties like this one.

At the moment Kate had found refuge on a couch that stood a little bit offside from the turmoil, sipping her drink. It wasn't her first and probably won't be her last. Not if the night will go one like this.

"Hey."

Dear god! Another one? Did they not notice that she wasn't in the mood to flirt with them? Or did they just choose not to care?

The guy sat down next to her, but she kept her glance stubbornly straight ahead. Maybe he would take the hint and leave her alone.

"I couldn't help but notice that you've been on your own most of the night."

Luck just didn't seem to be on her side tonight. Kate sighed. "Maybe that's because I'm not in the mood for company."

"Yeah, I kind of gathered that too, by the many guys you've brushed off." He said, amusement audible in his voice. He had a nice voice, she had to give him that. Deep and manly, but at the same time it was soft and gentle.

"You noticed? Good, because you're about to join their club." She replied sarcastically. Turning her head in his direction, she saw him for the first time completely. He was broad-shouldered, tall and his chest was well-toned. Brown hair and blue eyes. Kate had to bite onto her lower lips as she saw them. His blue orbs were beautiful, especially with this little mischievous glint they had in them right now. A cheeky grin was on his lips.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, putting his right hand over his heart. "I didn't even start flirting with you and you're already turning me down."

"I think you'll live."

"Barely." He smiled.

Kate couldn't help but smile back at him. He was quick with his responses. She liked that. But she was moving to the other side of the states. No point in starting anything now. _Not_ even a one night stand. He seemed like a nice guy, so she tried to let him down softly. "Look, you're funny and probably a really nice guy, but it's not what I need at the moment."

He shrugged. "It's alright. I recognize a hint if I see one. But I had to try it at least."

He got up and looked down at her, his blue eyes meet her hazel ones. "Still, it was nice talking to you."

"Yeah. Me, too." Was she really blushing now? Way to go, Kate.

Kate watched how he disappeared back into the crowd. What the hell was going on with her? She'd normally be ecstatic that such a hot guy like him was interested in her. Rebel Becks seemed to be officially missing, walking out on her shy and young part of herself.

Noticing that her cup was empty of any beverage, she made her way to refill it. Maybe she should try to find Maddie, and persuading her into going somewhere else. Somewhere the absence of her wild side wasn't that obvious to her. When did she start to grow up? Just two weeks ago, she had been busted by her parents for going to a party.

Kate looked around and hoped to see Maddie standing somewhere close by. No such luck. She came to a complete standstill however, when she saw the face of Matthew Paulsen. Her ex-boyfriend. She cursed her luck again. And Maddie! Both were at fault for her momentarily situation.

She lowered her head and tried to vanish into the crowd, but it was already too late. He had seen her, had looked right into her eyes. Before she had ducked down, Kate had seen how he started to make his way towards her. Of all things that made this evening a completely failure, her ex-boyfriend walking up to her was the worst of them all.

Matthew was the typical girl crush. A tall, lean body, yet still muscular. Great eyes and smile. Very well-behaved and he had been the captain of their school football team. His interest had been drawn to her pretty quickly, and after teasing him a little, she had given into him.

Three months ago, he had broken up with her. He had told her that he wasn't interested in a long-distance relationship. Besides, he wanted to enjoy the life of a young, good-looking college stud, and a girlfriend just didn't fit into that picture. It hadn't been _the_ epic love, her one and done. Wasn't even love at all. She had liked him that was all. But it still stung.

Glancing around, Kate searched for any way out of her situation. She still couldn't spot Maddie, but she did localize _him_. Blue Eyes. Scolding herself for giving him a nickname, but he never once told her his name.

Blue Eyes seemed to try his luck on another girl. He stood in front of a tall girl, whom resembled the spitting image of a Barbie doll. She rolled her eyes, it was always the same with the male population.

Kate took a deep breath, put on the biggest smile she could muster up and walked to over to them, already feeling sorry for bothering him with her dilemma.

"There you are! I already started to believe that I'd never find you again." she exclaimed, placing his arm around him as if to show everyone that he was already hers. Kate had to bite back a smirk when she saw Blue Eyes' perplexed looked. It was obvious that he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Barbie, as Kate had labelled the blond girl, looked disgusted at the man between them. "You have a girlfriend?! You pig." With that, Barbie turned around and disappeared off in search of another target, not once looking back.

"Did you seriously just blow my chance at a _very_, _very_ good night?" he asked her, still a little perplexed.

"Come on, she's not really your type, is she?" Now that Barbie was gone, Kate put her arm off of him, slightly missing his warmth. But only slightly.

"Let me think about that. Tall, long blond hair and a really hot body? She couldn't have been more my type!"

Kate rolled her eyes at his response. "Are you really that shallow?"

"Yeah."

"Men." She shook her head.

"Is there something you wanted, or do you just like in general to leave a guy high and try?"

Remembering the reason of her literal escape into Blue Eyes' arms, Kate looked back to where she came from. There he stood. Matthew. He must've stopped his movement when he saw her hugging another man. But apparently it didn't seem to get him off her tail. Matthew looked confused at her, before starting to close the distance to her once again.

What the hell did he want from her? Wasn't everything already said and done?

"Kiss me." Where did that come from?

"What?" he asked surprised.

"There's no time for long explanations. Kiss me!"

He glanced briefly over her shoulder, seeing a guy coming their way. Blue Eyes must have put one and one together, because the next thing she knew was his lips on hers. It was meant to be a quick kiss. Just something to show Matthew that she was alright with their break-up. Because she was. She didn't need his pity for breaking up with her.

The kiss lasted longer than she had originally intended to, but she wasn't complaining. Man, Blue Eyes certainly knew how to kiss a girl! All of the sudden she was very happy that she had scared away Barbie. This was the best kiss she had ever received. To hell with Maddie, she was ready to spend the whole night kissing those soft lips.

They slowly parted again, looking dazed into each other's eyes.

Someone cleared his throat. Looking to her left side, Kate saw Matthew standing in front of them looking uncomfortable. Right, Matthew. For a moment she had completely forgotten about him.

"Hi."

"Matthew." She greeted her ex.

"How are you?" Matthew asked.

"I'm fine, thanks." Matthew still looked a little uncomfortable, and she felt Blue Eyes getting a little restless too. "Oh, right. Where are my manners? Matthew, that's my boyfriend-" Damn. She still didn't know his name.

"Rick." Blue Eyes came to her rescue after sensing her predicament, and offered Matthew his hand to shake. So his name was Rick. Good to know.

"Hello Rick. Nice to meet you."

"Pleasure is all mine."

Okay, this wasn't awkward at all. Her ex-boyfriend meeting her fake one. What a night!

"Well, I should go. Maybe we'll see each other around." Matthew said.

"Yeah, that would be great!" Or not.

Kate was relieved when Matthew turned around and left them alone again. She almost felt sorry for him. But only almost.

"What was that?" Rick asked, a little amused grin on his lips.

"That, _Rick_, was improvisation. Mixed with a little damage-control."

"Hard break-up?"

"Not at all. But I'm not a fan of his pity."

"Ah." He exclaimed knowingly.

She looked mischievously at him. Maybe it was time to tease him a little. "Well, thanks for your help. I've got to go now."

"Really? First you ruined my night with a hot girl, then you drag me into your relationship drama, and now you're just going to leave me here standing in the rain?"

"It's not raining in here."

It was his turn to roll his eyes now. "I was figuratively speaking."

"I know." She grinned.

"Come on. I'm way funnier than the old couch you were sitting on, staring into nothingness."

Kate hummed, considering this. "You are aware that I'm not like the girls you are after."

"Hot?"

"Desperate. Looking for a good lay. You wouldn't get lucky tonight."

Rick scoffed. "Who says that the only way to make a man lucky is to sleep with him?"

"All the men in here?" Kate stated matter-of-factly, gesturing around the room.

"I'm not one of them."

"You're a girl?" Kate asked, trying to keep a straight face. It was really easy to play him.

"Haha, aren't you funny. You know what I meant."

She bite her lower lip. A habit she just couldn't seem to get rid of. "Well if it involves getting me a new drink, we have a deal."

"Settled! Wait here, I'll get those drinks."

Kate waited there like promised. Was she really considering to spend the rest of the night with him? She liked him, she really did. And she was frightened that she'd get attached. Something about him made her feel alive. More alive than usual. She liked to tease him, to involve him into a verbal duel.

As she stood there waiting for Rick to come back, she scanned the room once more for her best friend. If she'd ever find her, she'll give her an earful about ditching her. While sorting out all the things she'd say to Maddie, Kate stopped when she finally found her.

Maddie sat on the ground, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. It was obvious that she was completely wasted. Great. Now she had to drag Maddie's drunk ass home. Kate quickly walked over to Maddie, crouching down onto her friend's level.

"Maddie." Kate shook her shoulder.

"Wha? Becks?" God, she reeked after alcohol. Did she bath in it?

"Yeah, it's me."

"Not feelin' good." Maddie mumbled.

Looking up, Kate tried to spot the bathroom. "Come on, let's get you to the bathroom." Carefully, Kate helped Maddie to get on her feet. With a slow pace, the two made their way to the bathroom. They reached the bathroom just in time for Kate to open the toilet seat, and in no time Maddie was leaning over the toilet emptying her stomach into it. All Kate could do was holding Maddie's hair out of her face.

After some time, Kate helped Maddie freshen up again. The blond had gotten more and more quiet, showing signs of fatigue. Actually, scratch that again. As Kate turned back to her friend she noticed her laying like dead weight in the corner of the bathroom, already snoring loudly.

What should she do now? She couldn't carry her all the way home. Maddie so owed her for all of this.

The only person she at least knew a little bit was Rick. She was sure that he'd help her. But since she had been in the bathroom for quite some time now, he probably had moved on to someone else to talk to. She just hoped that he hadn't already left.

Kate shortly glanced back to make sure that her friend would be okay while she'd search for Rick, feeling slightly sorry for leaving her like this in an unknown bathroom, but she needed to get some help.

Luckily it didn't take long to find him. He was talking to a girl – again. It wasn't Barbie from before. No, this girl had raven black hair but still having a somewhat resemble of Barbie, which led Kate to name her _Barbie_ _Black_. After all, they were all the same. It didn't matter which hair color they had.

Barbie Black was smiling at Rick, while sipping a drink – probably the one that had been meant for her.

She wasn't angry at him. She did kind of bail on him – after turning his advances down. That was a total of two rejections in one night. Okay, the second time was because she needed to tend to Maddie, but she wasn't fishing for any excuses. Still, something unsettled her at seeing another girl drinking _her_ drink, smiling at him as if he was the only man on earth.

It showed her that she was replaceable.

Was she really jealous? They didn't really know each other. All they had were just some quick words and a kiss. One hell of a kiss, but in the end he was still only a stranger. A man she met at a party and would probably never see him again after this night.

This time she didn't feel as sorry for interrupting him with a girl as before.

Rick smiled at the dark-haired beauty, but the moment he saw her walking towards them, his smile fell instantly. He seemed to know what was about to happen.

"Hey, Rick." she greeted him nonchalantly.

"Really?" he asked, almost looking pleadingly at her. Kate looked him merciless in the eyes, almost daring him to shoo her away again.

In the end it was Barbie Black who broke the silence.

"Who are you?" She was appraising her, eying her from top to bottom.

"You're worst nightmare if you don't go now." Okay, that was a little harsh, but she felt better now. Refraining herself from smiling, she watched contently how the girl backtracked.

"Are you always like that?" groaned Rick.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maddening? Frustrating? Challenging? Pick one."

Somehow all the bravery suddenly left her, leaving her at a loss of words. What was there to say? They were strangers and she was sure that he was starting to get annoyed with her. He had absolutely no obligations to her. But this had been the second time tonight she had come to him, ruining something for him. She must look like a moth searching the light.

Now her conscience piped up. "Look, I'm truly sorry for disappearing like that."

"Really?" he asked sarcastically.

"I need your help."

"You won't make me regret ever approaching you in the first place, will you?"

"Please. My best friend is completely wasted. I can't carry her all the way out here."

Rick sighed. "Alright. Where is your friend?"

"In the bathroom."

"Then let's go and get her."

Kate led Rick towards the bathroom, hoping that Maddie was alright. Before entering the room in which her friend was momentary fast asleep, she turned around facing Rick one more time. She lifted her hand to rest it on his arm, drawing a confused look from him.

"Thank you." She said, her voice sincere.

He smiled a smile that mostly likely should tell her that it was okay. "It's alright."

Letting her hand linger a little longer on his arm, she squeezed it before returning her hand back at her side. It was time to get Maddie home. She opened the door and found her friend still leaning against the wall, still in the exact position she had left her in.

Rick stepped closer to the sleeping girl and knelt down, looping his arms around her feet and upper body. He lifted her carefully into his arms, so that she was now cuddled up into his chest.

"Do you have everything?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Rick held the sleeping girl secured in his arms as he made his way through the crowd, sometimes being eyed curiously from some of the people he passed. Kate trailed after him, trying to stay close so that she wouldn't lose them on the way out. This location was definitely bigger than it looked from the outside.

The music was fading into a soft murmur, as they stepped out of the door and away from the party. A few people were standing outside, talking and enjoying their drink under the clear sky of the night.

"Where to?"

Kate glanced at him as he looked down at her, waiting for an answer. "I've seen a cabstand a block from here." She said, nodding to their left side.

"Alright."

They walked side by side, neither really knowing what to say. After ten or so minutes, Rick broke the awkward silence. "What are you studying?"

"Law." She neglected to say that she had not yet begun to study it. He didn't need to know that.

"Yeah," he laughed. "I can truly see it. You sitting in a court room, not leaving until you've won your case. Poor guys who'll have to sit on the opposite side of you."

Kate too, had to smile as she pictured this. He was probably right. She'd be too stubborn to not try everything to win in court.

"Thanks again for helping me out. I'm sure you'd have a better time flirting with one of the girl of the party."

"Don't sweat it. In the end, I _choose_ to not get lucky tonight." He said, grinning at her, referring at her earlier comment about him not getting lucky tonight if he'd spent his time with her at the party. "I'm not regretting it."

She smiled, blushing slightly. He chose to help her. He didn't need to. But he wanted. He could've stopped her from interrupting his attempts to flirt with the girls, but he didn't. He _let_ her interrupt.

Lost in thoughts she just noticed that he had asked her something. "What?"

"I said that I didn't even know your name yet."

"It's Kate."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

Now she had to laugh. "Wow. That was really cheesy."

"I know, sorry." He replied, joining into her laughter.

Suddenly all too soon they arrived at the cabstand. Their farewell almost reachable. It really did happen after all. The one thing she had hoped it would not.

She liked him. A lot.

This was not happening to her. She couldn't get attached. Not when she was about to move all the way over to California. Not when she knew that she'll never see him again. All of this was just wrong. Completely.

But all she felt was rightness.

It almost felt natural to bicker with him, to tease him. Joking around and having fun together, each of them trying to outwit the other. Walking side by side on a mild night in June. And the worst part of all was that she wanted it. All of that.

"So, here we are." He exclaimed, coming to a stop next to the closest cab.

"Yeah."

Kate opened the door to the cab, and Rick carefully placed Maddie on the backseat. Retreating a little for Kate to get in, he put a hand on the door.

"Well Kate, thanks for a unique night out."

She laughed again. "Your welcome."

Getting into the cab, she looked one last time at Rick, who was smiling softly at her.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Do you even want that after tonight?" she asked teasingly.

"I got to know one side of you. I'd like to see the other ones, too."

"We'll see about that." She said, glancing mischievously up at him.

"Have a good night, Kate."

"Goodnight, Rick."

With that he closed the door. As the cab started to pull into traffic, she turned around looking out of the window. He waited until the cab was out of sight. Smiling, she turned back around. She just decided that she'll do whatever it would take to see him again.

Leaning back looking out of the window, she couldn't help but think that Maddie had been right. The night had been fun. The night had been good.

Better than good actually.

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**I hope you liked it.**

**I know that the legal drinking age in the US is 21, but this is a College party they snuck into. Besides I don't think that Rebel Becks waited until she was 21 to drink alcohol.**

**She was a wild kid after all :)**

**Please leave a review on your way out :D**

**I wish you all a great day!**


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